Master of Arts / Department of History / Robert D. Linder / American society has been heavily influenced by religion, since before the United States existed as a nation. It has provided a sense of providential guidance and protection that has shaped or influenced internal politics and foreign policy alike. How were attitudes toward expansion and imperialism affected by religion throughout American history? Was the resultant ideology consistent? If not, what changed to cause a shift? The purpose of this thesis is to explore those questions. Using a wide breadth of material including primary and secondary sources, this thesis demonstrates that society was heavily influenced by religious rhetoric, whether spoken from the pulpit or in print. It further demonstrates how political leaders and religious leaders utilized rhetoric of divine causation and justification in addition to more tangible factors such as economics or security for expansionist thought. Significantly, concepts of racism were justified or reviled in religious terms. Ironically, opposing views on these topics both chose to use religion as their weapon to prove their points. Culminating at the time of the Spanish-American War of 1898, and the follow-on Philippine-American War, the imperial debate was heavily influenced by religion and was a milestone in transforming American national policy and thought.

Thesis advisor: Min H. Song / This dissertation examines how contemporary Filipino American novels narrate the experiences of immigrant Filipino workers in the US in the context of neoliberal globalization. In particular, I analyze how these novels depict neoliberal global capitalism's re-ordering of urban and suburban spaces in order to create safe spaces for consumption, and the impact of such re-ordering on immigrant Filipino service workers. This re-ordering of space, based on urban management principles pioneered by Disney Corporation that have become dominant across the US and in other places like the Philippines, has widened the gulf between those who have the means to partake of consumption and those who do not. The dissertation argues that the contemporary Filipino American novels under study perform the cultural task of capturing the disturbances brought about by the dizzying shifts in the nature of work, understanding of self, affiliation, and the world, and of reflecting back to their readers their personal and social costs. Chapter One traces the roots of Disneyfication to the world's fairs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, highlighting the imperialist legacy imbricated in the Disney theme parks' nativist and anti-poor tendencies. I argue that such bias underpin the strategies of Disneyfication that has dominated the US urban landscape beginning in the 1970s. Chapter Two analyzes Jessica Hagedorn's two novels on the Philippines, Dogeaters and Dream Jungle, focusing on her literary representation of the Marcos dictatorship's attempt to use the strategies of Disneyfication to cover over the regime's violent exploitation of its own people in connivance with the then US-dominated global capitalism. Chapter Three discusses how Han Ong's Fixer Chao depicts the transformation of the subjectivity of an immigrant Filipino service worker against the background of New York City's gentrification in the 1990s. Ong uses the motifs of fragmentation, displacement, and conflation of moral good and material goods to present a Filipino American critique of neoliberal global capitalism's ethos of consumerism. Finally, Chapter Four studies Brian Ascalon Roley's American Son and Evelina Galang's One Tribe in terms of the novels' depiction of the immigrant Filipino workers' experience of the strategies of exclusion and control. Both novels delineate formal and informal means of surveillance targeted at Filipino immigrant workers, highlighting the way immigrant Filipino families and communities discipline their members, in particular the young females, to argue for assimilation into the Disneyfied mainstream American society and culture. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English.

Thesis advisor: Roberto Goizueta / Having first spoken to the situation of the poor in Latin America, liberation theology is a movement that has empowered the marginalized in a number of different regions and oppressive contexts. This thesis explores the growth of liberation theology in the Filipino situation by drawing on the history and present state of the Philippines and the author’s own experiences in the country. After a description of the history of colonialism, the development of the political systems, and the condition of the environment, the paper also describes the genesis of liberation theology in Latin America as a template for Filipino liberation theology. The next chapter details the current movements for liberation in the Philippines, particularly how they apply to the political and environmental realities of the country. The author’s own stories of accompanying a marginalized community of persons with disabilities are included as instances of liberation among the Filipino people. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Theology.

Student Number : 2503365 MSc Building (Housing) research report School of Architecture Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / The failure of governments to promote efficient housing policies coupled with increasing speculation in land markets has resulted in scarcity of serviced land, leading to a lack of adequate housing for the majority of the urban population. This has resulted in illegal land use and development and the eventual situation of informal settlements developing at a rapid rate. However most governments in the developing world, including South Africa have failed to acknowledge that most new urban informal settlements are developed by an illegal process as informal settlement residents willingly or unwittingly contravene planning regulations, contravene laws out of ignorance of the legal requirements, coupled with the inability to conform to the high standards set. Consequently, States respond to this illegality in the form of eviction as it threatens the economic, social and political stability of the urban environment. Concepts promoted internationally and identified in international literature recognize that the solution to informality lies in appropriate protection of rights which should ensure access to secure shelter leading to access to other benefits such as livelihood opportunities, public services and credits. That flowing from International Laws and Covenants, Human Rights Law needs to be looked at as a system of law that creates legally binding obligations for states with the aim of protecting, respecting and promoting housing rights for informal settlement residents. In the context of rights, Fernandes goes further in emphasising the legal constitutional perspective of the urban phenomenon where law is used as a vehicle for urban development and social change as well as encouraging state action and its attempts at socio-political legitimization in the context of informal settlement intervention.

Thesis advisor: James F. Keenan / The dissertation will contribute not only to an appreciation and critical evaluation of fortitude in the Philippine context, but has a wider significance for the practice of virtue ethics. The thesis is that (a) virtue must be analyzed contextually, in specific social contexts, as well as (b) in dependence upon the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition of the virtues, that (c) social virtue as well as individual virtue exists, and that (d) this social, contextual, Aristotelian-Thomistic approach to virtue provides a basis for a social-ethical critical evaluation and prescription for particular societies. If virtue ethics is to generate sound social normative claims, its argument needs to be based not merely upon the classical tradition, but also on a socially, historically and culturally aware analysis of the way virtues are fleshed out in context. This dissertation will argue that the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition still has much to teach us about courage or fortitude, and in dialogue with contemporary social science still provides legitimate moral insights into fortitude today. Second, it will argue that virtue takes on a particular color or texture in specific social contexts, and will argue this in relation to the Filipino context: Philippine fortitude is Thomistic, with unique attributes of resilience and joy. Third, it will argue that it is necessary to engage in a social-ethical critique of social virtue, arguing that there are deficiencies in Philippine fortitude in that it lacks a crucial link with justice. This critical evaluation will lead to the elaboration of an ethical and social imperative for the Filipino people to develop good anger to fuel a less passive, more assertive fortitude that is ordered to justice. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The problem of this dissertation is to examine the relationship between the universal Gospel of Christ and modern nationalism, as seen in the history of four churches in the Philippines. The Philippines provides a significant setting for studying this relationship because of two factors. In the first place, nationalism has had a long and vigorous influence upon the Philippines, having for nearly a century helped shape the life of the nation, not only politically but religiously as well. Secondly, the Philippine churches--Roman Catholic, Independent Catholic, United Church of Christ, and Methodist--have each responded differently to nationalism. Thus, in one nation, a variety of responses by Christian churches to nationalism can be observed and evaluated. The method of the dissertation is twofold. First, it is theological and philosophical, through which five norms are proposed as a means of evaluating the relationship between the Christian faith and modern nationalism. These norms are arrived at in the light of contemporary ecumenical documents, especially those dealing with modern mission theory. They also grow out of the discipline of soctal ethics, in addition to the writer's experience as a missionary in the Philippines. Secondly, the dissertation is historical in method, Case studies of four churches are made in which is traced their development as they have each responded to, and been affected by, Philippine nationalism. The Roman Catholic Church brought Christianity to the Philippines at the beginning of Spanish colonial rule in the sixteenth century. Although the early missionaries enriched the islands by introducing many cultural and religious contributions, by the nineteenth century the Church had largely become a force of exploitation and oppression in the archipelago. Just as the government resisted demands for political reform and steps toward independence, so the religious orders--the real focus of power of the Church in the islands--opposed not only national independence but also resisted the development of an indigenous clergy. When the Philippine Revolution came, it was directed against the Church as well as the state. Much of the conflict between Philippine nationalism and Roman Catholicism has continued into the twentieth century due to the large degree of foreign missionary domination in the Church. The opposition of Roman Catholicism to Philippine nationalism resulted in the formation of the Philippine Independent Church in 1902 by Filipinos who wanted a Church led by Filipinos and responsive to Philippine nationalism. Hindered by poverty, lack of churches, and a shortage of trained priests, the Independent Church failed to grow beyond the two million who initially joined its ranks. Until recent years, it was motivated largely by nationalistic impulses and sought to develop a uniquely Filipino Christianity. The two largest Philippine Protestant churches--the United Church of Christ and the Methodist Church--have both had policies that were in harmony with the objective of Philippine nationalism for self-determination in the religious institutions of the country. At the same time they have not been narrowly bound by nationalistic policies. The United Church of Christ is completely independent in government and policies. Philippine Methodism, however, is organically related to American Methodism. This relationship in Methodism has caused some conflict with Philippine nationalism. An evaluation of the history of each church by use of the five norms substantiates four principal hypotheses: 1) Roman Catholicism has made a generally negative response to Philippine nationalism; 2) until recently, nationalism was the directive force in the Philippine Independent Church; 3) the Protestant churches have made a generally balanced response to Philippine nationalism; and 4) the positive response of Methodism to Philippine nationalism has been partially modified by its lack of autonomy. Further conclusions follow from these hypotheses. / 2031-01-01

This thesis examines the economic effects of both international and domestic remittances on Filipino households. The thesis investigates three main research questions: (1) “Which household characteristics affect the probability and the size of domestic and international remittances migrant households received?”; (2) “How do these two sources of remittances Filipino households received affect welfare inequality at the household level?”; (3) “How do the remittances affect the recipient household's expenditure patterns, especially educational expenditures?” The data mainly used for the thesis come from the nationally representative Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) in the Philippines during the period of 1985-2006. With regard to the first question, the thesis finds that the levels of receiving international and domestic remittances are mutually related and reveals that there is a displacement effect of remittances from abroad on those from within the country. Furthermore, the thesis also revealed that several explanatory factors such as the welfare level, the heads' characteristics, the job-related factors, and the regional disparities are significant to determine both the probability and the size of receiving the remittances. Regarding the second question, the thesis shows that the receipt of international remittances could significantly contribute to an improvement in Filipino households' livelihoods at any welfare level and that it would cause expenditure inequality between Filipino households to widen over time. In contrast, the receipt of remittances from within the Philippines did not exert a significant impact on improving the welfare. As for the last question, the thesis finds that the receipt of remittances from abroad would increase the budget share for education as well as its absolute value. This result supports the idea that international remittances could contribute to the future Philippine economic growth via increase in human capital investment if the country sort out the issues on brain drain of educated migrants' children.

This study aims to examine how the work of NGOs can be beneficial for teenage mothers’ in the Philippines. We wanted to study why they sought support of an NGO and how their lives were impacted after they made contact with an NGO. Teenage pregnancy rates have been rising in the Philippines and mostly affect the young mothers negatively i.e. they often have to quit school and be financially dependent on their parents. They are a stigmatized group and to understand their situation you have to comprehend how the context in the Philippines comes to affect them.  The study was conducted using a qualitative inductive method. By using semi-structured interviews, we have collected our material by interviewing eight young mothers who were in contact with two different organizations.  The result of the study shows that the work of NGOs has a significant influence in improving the young mothers’ lives both mentally and physically. When becoming pregnant they get rejected by their social circle and are left on their own because they are viewed as a disgrace. To analyze our result, we have used stigmatization and empowerment as theoretical framework. The study has shown that the environment is crucial for the outcome of their lives and that the organizations’ play an important role in their lives to empower them to take action and start something new.

This study was conducted with a group Filipino survivors of Typhoon Yolanda. It examines the effects of being injured or displaced as a result of the natural disaster on the effectiveness of a pilot project addressing depression, anxiety and hope. Eight adults (N = 8) completed a series of five workshops along with a pre and post questionnaire. Those that were displaced, exhibited a reduction in depression (24%), a reduction in anxiety (12.8%), and an increase in hope (14.78%) after completing the workshops. Furthermore, the individuals that were injured experienced a reduction in anxiety (22.7%), an increase in depression (28.48%), and an increase in hope (14.86%).